Note: Never say our readers don’t listen. After spotlighting Marvel’s Omega Red as one of the top villains in need of a redesign, artist Alex Mitchell stepped up to the plate and gave his rendition of Arkady a Russian homeland makeover. Getting rid of his 90s top-knot and giving him a more street-level outfit, Mitchell gave this epic villain a much needed face-lift. And kudos for fine-tuning the tentacles to be less tubular and more flat like lashes. – Chris A.
Here’s what Alex told us about his redesign:
I’ve always liked Omega Red, he’s such a good example of the ‘killing machine’ character that fits in well with Wolverine’s particularly murderous gallery of rogues. When considering a redesign, I wanted to deliberately make some different choices. No 90′s era brightly colored mystery material, no blonde glam rock hairdo. The elements of the design I felt I had to keep were the tendrils, the armor, the uncanny skin coloration, and omega motif. I wanted to bring in a wintery Soviet military aesthetic, play up the “experimental subject gone amok” angle. I also redesigned the carbonadium tendrils into a more biological leech-like form to emphasize their life-sucking abilities. I think this Omega Red in a more believable, threatening character worthy to face off against Wolverine or the X-men as a whole.
